Competing in the 1937 Tour de France (TdF), the very talented Italian Gino “the Pios” Bartali showed flashes of brilliance, but an extremely bad crash cost him the glory of a Tour victory. During his early season preparation in 1938, Bartali was force by the Italian Federation to bypass his native Giro d'Italia to focus on the TdF. This year he returned to the Tour with great purpose and unfinished business.

Aging, two-time Tour champion (1930 and 1932) Andre Leducq applied his talents early in the Tour, taking the Maillot Jaune (race leader's Yellow Jersey) on stage 6b. His lead was short lived, when the race reached the Pyrenees Mountains and the “circle of death”, Gino Bartali attacked on the Col d'Aspin, dropping all challengers. After winning the climbs of the first three tough climbs of the stage, the Col d'Aspin, Col d'Aubisque, and Col du Tourmalet, Bartali was struck by bad luck for a second year in a row. Descending the Tourmalet, a wheel collapse and he crashed heavily. Unlike the previous year his injuries were not serious, Bartali remounted and chased back to the peloton, but climber Felicien Vervaecke, were gone. Vervaecke won the stage and took a 53 second lead over Bartali, but the racing was just heating-up.

Bartali deficit had grown to 1 minute 35 seconds by the time the Tour reached the Alps. Stage 14 from Digne to Briancon featured the classic climbs of the Col d'Allos, Col du Vars, and Col d'Izoard. Bartali wasted little time and attacked on the Allos. By Briancon he had a 5-minute victory over second place Vicini and 17 minute margin over Tour leader Vervaecke. There were still 10 stages to the finish and Bartali, despite a few punctures and mishaps, had little trouble holding the lead all the way to Paris.